8 questions reported in Bain interviews, organised by the group that asks them. Every question carries a model answer and graded feedback on your own attempt.
Questions
Easy · Medium
Hard
Model builds
Built in the spreadsheet grid
Adjacency analysis, competitive response and where advantage actually comes from. 3 questions
The step most strategy analyses skip, and the one that determines the outcome.
Your company is considering cutting prices 10% to gain share. How do you assess whether it will work?
The core corporate strategy question, and it appears in case form.
Your company wants to enter an adjacent market. How do you assess whether you have a right to win?
Corporate strategy interviews use this as the counterpart to the acquisition question.
A diversified company asks you to review its portfolio and recommend divestments. What framework do you use?
Merger models, accretion/dilution, purchase accounting and deal judgement. 2 questions
Asked to test commercial judgement, not modeling ability.
Distinguish cost from revenue synergies. Which do you trust more and why? How should synergies affect the price a buyer is willing to pay?
The analysis that justifies. Or fails to justify. A control premium.
An acquirer expects $80m of annual run-rate cost synergies, phased over three years, with $120m of one-time costs to achieve. How much are the synergies worth, and how much of that should show up in…
Business quality, position sizing, benchmark risk and turnover discipline. 1 question
Common in research and growth investing interviews. Assume no internet access.
Estimate the annual revenue of the US coffee shop market. Show your reasoning, then tell me which assumption your answer is most sensitive to.
Driver-based forecasts, variance analysis and forecast accuracy. 1 question
Common in FP&A and corporate strategy interviews.
Compare zero-based budgeting with incremental budgeting. When would you implement ZBB, and what typically goes wrong?
Strategic fit, synergy underwriting, dis-synergies and post-close ownership. 1 question
Integration is where acquisitions actually fail, and corp dev interviews probe it directly.
Your company has just signed a deal to acquire a competitor half its size. You have three months to close. What do you do in that window, and what are the first 100 days after?
Write your answer, get it graded on technical accuracy, completeness and communication, and see exactly which mechanic you missed.
Company tags reflect where a question type is commonly reported in interviews. They are not sourced from, endorsed by, or affiliated with Bain.